OOiE’S BAL tiEW-YORKER. 
CAEE OF FEATHER BEDS. 
Keep them stirring. At least we will 
luive the satisfaction of pointing out the 
right way, if people will not walk therein. 
It seems to me that one moment’s thought¬ 
ful reflection must convince any one of the 
injurious effects that may follow from lying 
upon filthy beds. The housewife may throw 
up her indignant hands at this remark, but 
let ua argue together a moment, lu fair 
weather you toss up your beds close to the. 
open window, and lay your pillows across 
the silL Very well. Now take common 
stout ticking, such as will prevent feathers 
from protruding, and brace this ticking sin¬ 
gly between yourself and the wind and note 
how little air realty comes through it. Then 
as the beds lie in a heap to air, we may cor¬ 
rectly infc-r that the outer layer of feathers 
is scarcely aired at all, to say nothing of the 
inner and inmost masses. We should not 
relish rolling into sheets that had been stead¬ 
ily used for two weeks, but smother our¬ 
selves upon or amidst feather beds that havo 
been accumulating scents and foulness from 
yearn of constant use. 
Your children are tucked up in beds that 
previous generations of children had been 
tucked into. Many of these same feather 
beds are made up from materials bought of 
dealers of whom the purchaser knows noth¬ 
ing. What sacks might, they not havo been 
emptied from '! What hospital swelled the 
salesman’s stores ? 
At this moment I recall to mind one in¬ 
stance coming under my knowledge, and 
will relate it for those who have a mania to 
buy at auction because goods go cheap, i 
may bo allowed this expression, with all due 
respect for those whose leanness of wallet 
forbids their purchasing goods at first side. 
A lady had suffered a severe operation, the 
right breast being entirely removed, vyitli 
the cancer attached, and she remained four 
or five weeks lying upon two feather beds, 
which were continually being saturated from 
the bleeding wound. Well, afterwards those 
beds were sold at. auction, the ticks having 
been cleansed, and the matted feathers tom 
into respectable pieces and distributed 
among the others. 
Presuming this to be one instance among 
the many, it will do for example. If it is an 
extreme case, so much the better; but this 
we do know, that diseased bodies, consump¬ 
tive, fevered in id humor-eaten bodies, in the 
course of our housekeeping duties, lie upon 
our feather beds. People die of consump¬ 
tion, of fevers, and other frightful diseases. 
The beds are thrown out for a few days 
upon the fence, perhaps, but we have proved 
how little air can penetrate to the heated 
and contaminated masses within the ticks ; 
then these beds, after their few days ol' quar¬ 
antine, are brought back to their* old places, 
and the family or friends lie upon them. The 
bodies warm through this nest of disease; it 
is breathed into the lungs ; the pores of the 
body absorb the poison, and who can trace 
the results ’■ 
We claim that in this article we have only 
touched upon the subject, allowing the fancy 
to fill up details. We also claim that, allow¬ 
ing hah* mattrasses to be unattainable to the 
masses, the next best, if not the best thing, 
is a husk bed. YOU can have, a sweet, clean, 
wholesome, endurable bed, which can be 
emptied out of the sack at will, sunned and 
aired, and kept in a corpulent condition by 
a few pounds of fresh material being added 
each year. Fanners, for a trilling remuner¬ 
ation, would preserve their husks at. harvest 
time every year. 
But of all the hard labor, the getting peo¬ 
ple to drop old notions and adopt new ideas 
is perhaps the hardest. For instance, wc 
know of a man who, earnestly believing that 
he could make people understand this matter 
of filthy beds, invested all his ready capital 
in an excellent machine for cleansing feath¬ 
ers. They were washed by steam and 
fanned dry, bringing there? into a purer state 
than when first plucked from the fowl. Well, 
he went, into a thriving village, set up liis 
machine, advertised and begged one or two 
beds to do for nothing to show people how 
the thing worked. These beds were the 
poorest which the people possessed, and 
after being nearly stifled with the outrageous 
scent while at work, and finding nearly 
a peek of dirt, such as moth skins, pipe 
bowls, chaff and grit, he returned the arti¬ 
cles, and they falling short in original weight 
it was hard convincing the people that lie 
had not purloined a hatfull of feathers. 
“ Hum ! ” ejaculated one rich old lady, on 
being solicited for beds; “my family have 
had my beds in constant use for fifty years, 
and never found any need of cleansing them, 
and I sha.ll not, begin now.” 
Do you wonder the philanthropic feather 
man failed? 
One word in regard to our grandmothers 
—their health, longevity, &c., which is so 
often hurled at us. It is barely possible 
that if they had not overstrained every fac¬ 
ulty in manual labor we would have had 
more to thank them for in our own greater 
strength.—Mils. C. 
-- 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
To Keep Hams in Summer. —There are a 
number of modes given to keep hams 
through the warm season free from the at¬ 
tacks of insects. Some bag them and white¬ 
wash the bags, which is troublesome and 
somewhat expensive ; some cover them with 
dry wood-ashes and pack them in barrels ; 
3omc pack them in barrels and cover thor¬ 
oughly with pine shavings; but we think 
the best plan of all, and certainly the least 
expensive with all who have a smoke-house, 
and every fanner should havo a good one, is 
to keep the hams hung up in the smoke¬ 
house, which should he kept, perfectly dark at 
all times. We have eaten hams so kept two 
years old, mid they were among the very 
best we ever tasted. Uniform darkness is a 
complete protection against the attack of 
insects.— [GervmnUnm Telegraph. 
Teas’ Cake .—Look over and wash one pint 
of dry. white marrow-fat peas (whole or split) • 
add two quarts of water, cover close aud 
stew gently, until the picas are quite reduced 
to a pulp); strain through a Coarse sieve or a 
Colander; salt to tjie taste, and pour into a 
flat dish, to the depth of uu inch or more; 
let this stand to cool several hours, or until it 
is quite firm ; cut in short slices, half an inch 
thick, and serve cold, as a relish, with bread 
and butter and stewed fruit. It is palatable, 
nutritious and wholesome, provided one does 
not cut too much. Cooked in steam, or in a 
double boiler, it requires less water. 
Mam Toast. —When a ham gets unsightly 
for the table, take oil as much of it as you 
require aud mince finely. To one pint of 
mince put two table-spoonfuls of cream, or 
fresh, rich milk. Boil it five minutes ; pre¬ 
pare well buttered toast, and spread the 
mince on them. Strew over this well grated 
bread crumbs, a little parsley and Some small 
pieces of butter. Brown in a quick oven and 
serve hot. » 
itijran. 
BEE PASTURAGE IN ENGLAND. 
A Pettigrew, in London Cottage Garden¬ 
er, gives the following list of honey plants, 
which will interest our bee-keeping readers, 
for many of them are common in this coun¬ 
try. He sqys : 
it is beyond the powers of the best in¬ 
formed mind to name every plant and flower 
found in this country which yields honey. 
Bees have been seen at work on the dock, 
daisy, and dandelion in places and times of 
scarcity ; yet no writer, probably, would 
venture to put these in the list of honey-pro¬ 
ducing plants. Of these the following list 
contains the most valuable, and also some 
that are of comparatively little value to bees. 
Winter Aconite, Tussilago, Rosemary, 
Crocus, Willow, Osier, Hepatica, Violet, Ver¬ 
onica, Cyanus (Blue-bottle), Kyringa, Hya¬ 
cinth, Almond, Borage, Single Wallflower, 
Apricot, Gooseberry, Peach, Plum and Cher¬ 
ry, Pear aud Apple, Currant, Raspberry, 
Brambleberry, Mignonette, Laurel, Hazel, 
Turnip, Cabbage ( ill the Brassiea tribe), 
Broom, Gorso or Whin, Berberry, Sweet 
Briar, Iiibcs sanguineum, Mallow, Maple, 
Sycamore and Plane, Lime, Bean, Field 
Mustard (Sinupts arvensis), Bird’s-footTrefoil 
(Lotus corntculatus and major), St. Jolm’s- 
wort, Honeysuckle, Buckwheat, Hyssop, 
Nasturtium, Viper’s Bugloss, White Clover, 
Hollyhock, Heliotrope, Thyme, Ivy, Melilo- 
Iuh leucantha , Heather (Heaths of all kinds). 
In early spring crocuses, border hyacinths, 
single wallflowers, some kind of willows 
(Suite) are welcomed and much visited by 
bees, and it. is believed all of them yield both 
honey and pollen. Then follow the flowers 
of the gooseberry, cherry, plum, pear, and 
apple, all of which are rich in honey of ex¬ 
quisite flavor. Before the apple blossoms 
fade the. sycamore produces its flower, which 
is scarcely equalled for the abundance and 
richness of the honey it produces. In this 
country honey is not distilled (does not drop) 
from the flowers of the sycamore tree, but it 
literally lies on them, and is clammy to the 
hand. The sycamore continues a long while 
in flower, filling up the interval between the 
fall of fruit tree blossoms and the blootnipg of 
white clover. Field bean3 flower about the 
same time—rather later, perhaps, than syca¬ 
mores, and furnish bees with large supplies. 
Field mustard, which is a weed covering 
many a corn field in some parts of the coun¬ 
try, flowers about the same time as field 
beans. It, too, yields huge supplies of honey, 
which speedily erystallzes. In Yorkshire 
and Derbyshire this plant is called kctloek ; 
in Lanarkshire it is called skellock ; in Wig- 
tonshire it is termed ranches; and here, in 
Lancashire and Cheshire, it is called the 
yellow weed. 
The reader may be interested to know 
that no two kinds of plants produce honey 
alike. White clover is in this country the 
queen of honey plants. It continues a long 
time in flower, and yields a large quantity 
of rich, transparent honey of excellent flavor. 
It is, perhaps, one of the most sensitive of 
our honey plants—sensitive, I mean, to the 
change of weather, and produces but little 
honey in the face of an east, wind Even 
mignonette, which is a great favorite with 
bees, is not so easily affected by cold weather 
as white, clover. Red clover is doubtless a 
honey plant, but its petals are too deep for 
the proboscis of the honey bee. It cannot 
reach tho receptacles of honey at the bottom 
of the petals. This remark applies also to 
flowers cf beans, but these are tapped or 
pierced at their bottoms, just opposite the 
honey-nectar, and through these pierced 
holes tho rich treasure of bean flowers is ex¬ 
tracted, It is a question whether the flowers 
are tapped by humble bees or our own little 
workers. 
Tho honey seasons of Great Britain may 
bo divided into throe periods—viz., 1st, April 
and May ; 2nd, June and July ; 3rd, August. 
The fruit trees are the great honey-produc¬ 
ers during the first, period ; for the second 
wc havo sycamores, beans, field mustard, 
limes, aud white clover. There are dozens of 
honey plants flowering at tins season, but 
they arc unimportant compared to those 
named. Lastly comes the moorland heather, 
so valuable to the bee-former. 
Borage, mignonette and Tenluurca Cyanus 
are three annuals whose flowers are very 
rich in honey, and one cannot have too much 
of these in the vicinity of his apiary. 
— — —■♦♦♦' ■ 
WHAT IS HONEY? 
This question has provoked a good deal of 
discussion—that is as to whether the bees 
gather honey from the plants, or make it 
from tho sweets they thus gather. An En¬ 
glish writer asserts that “honey proper is 
not found in flowers ; that the sweet Juice 
found there is collected by bees and after¬ 
ward converted by them into honey proper 
-marketable aud presentable.” He claims 
that the sweet juice gathered by bees and 
deposited during the day in the comb Is re- 
swallowed ere it is manufactured into honey; 
that the juice is not honey when gathered 
more than cream is butter before it is 
churned. He adds: 
“ For the sake of others who uiay wish to 
see for themselves, let me suggest a very 
simple experiment. Some warm summer 
morning put a strong swarm into a hive— 
full or half full of empty combs—say at. 7 
o’clock A. M. Weigh, hive and bees before 
the latter begin to work. This swarm will 
probably collect live pounds of crude honey 
the same day before 7 o’clock P. M. Remove 
the bees into another hive and extract the 
honey. It will he found crude Btill, and as 
unlike honey as cream is unlike butter. No 
process or amount of evaporation will re¬ 
move its crudeness. It will mold ; It will 
become sour. I have never seen it crysta 1 - 
ize like proper honey. 
“ If this is not conclusive evidence, put an¬ 
other swarm into another hive with empty 
combs. It may collect the same weight of 
crude honey in the same space of time ; but 
let it remain In the hive, and if the bees be 
prevented from gathering more by rain or 
artificial means, for thirty-six hours, all the 
crude, stuff will be changed into honey 
proper, and stored away on the outsides of 
the combs. When bees come home from 
tho fields they empty their sacs in the first 
empty eeLLs they can find, and go back to the 
fields for more ; hence on lifting and exam¬ 
ining a hive at the close of a hard day’s 
work, we find the clear, limpid but crude 
fluid gathered that day among the brood 
combs ; there, for convenience, to be re¬ 
swallowed, and stored away at night.” 
-♦♦♦ 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Questions for Bee Keepers.—I have pur¬ 
chased a Jot of old hives, comb and honey 
boxes. 1. If T clean the hives and boxes 
thoroughly would there be any danger of 
communicating foul brood to my apiary ? 
2. Would it be safe to use the comb? It 
looks clean. S. Would it be of any use to 
paint the hives on the inside ?—L. Burbank. 
Keeping Money. — A wholesale honey 
dealer says honey will not candy if a tea- 
spoonful of cream tartar dissolved in water 
be mixed with a gallon of honey when scald¬ 
ing hot. Care must be taken iiot to scorch 
the honey. 
oifs and 
annqjs. 
FASHION GOSSIP. 
In continuing remarks on dresses for even¬ 
ing wear, it is necessary to state that even¬ 
ing dresses are made with even three skirts. 
The under one is usually of a pole shndo of 
silk, and rarely over three yards wide. Hang¬ 
ing very plainly in front, it is sloped sharply 
in the back to a long, pointed train, which 
is finished by a flounce. The second skirt of 
tulle muslin or chandlery gauze is very long 
and draped generally from one side, crossing 
the front breadth diagonally. The third 
skirt, is draped in the back. When the upper 
skirts are of tulle or gauze they should be 
arranged loosely in the most unique manner 
the wearer can devise, and then sewed to 
the underskirt, to keep the folds in place. 
The corset-waist, which fits very smoothly 
over the hips, is the favorite corsage. It, has 
a plaiting of tulle around tho edge, or a gar¬ 
land of flowers. Even smilax. In its natural 
state, may be used. Tho sleeves are hori¬ 
zontal puffs of tulle with silk bands tied be¬ 
tween the puffs. Flowers are the favorite 
ornaments, and used in the greatest pro¬ 
fusion. Fringes of flowers border flounces, 
and run around them u*r Leadings. Long 
garlands wind about the draperies to the 
bottom of the skirt. Handsome flowers are 
very expensive, but they will last several 
seasons if carefully preserved, and after¬ 
wards can be used for hat decorations. 
A pretty fancy for a white gauze or tulle 
dress is wide bunds of black velvet, running 
from one side diagonally across the front of 
tho skirt, ending in loops and roses on the 
other side. Over this a tulle tunic falls in 
folds down to the opposite side of the skirt. 
Bpring walking-dresses will he made of 
combinations of silk and cloth, or camels’ 
hair goods. A new style will dispense with 
the overdress. Tho front ha8 three flounces, 
headed by bands of silk. The back has one 
deep flounce the depth of two of those in 
front. Tho tunic is simple kilt-plaiting fall¬ 
ing above the- flounce. The waist is made 
with a deep vest in front; the back is a short 
basque, close, long sleeves, small cuffs, and 
revers. A veiy pretty fashion is high plait¬ 
ing around the neck, ending with the revers. 
Flounces made of alternate plaiting* of 
silk and woolen goods of different shades, us 
dark and light brown, are very pretty. The 
plaits in this ease should be quite large and 
consist of about three each. Old dresses 
may be very successfully modeled in this 
manner. The upper portion, basqup and 
tunic or polonaise, may be of either shade 
and trimmed with the other. A Furia cor¬ 
respondent. states that all garments are made 
more and more like those of men than ever 
—which is to say that re vein, square pockets, 
cuffs, large buttons, fewer puffs and more 
flat plaitings will prevail more than ever. 
A water-proof suit every lady will find of 
the greatest advantage. In saying this it 
must be understood (hat only the best En¬ 
glish water-proof is referred to, as a great 
portion of the material called water-proof 
is anything but proof against water. The 
favorite model Ls a dark-green, blue or plum 
skirt, perfectly plain or with a scant flounce 
corded with silk. Witn It is worn a plain 
Garibaldi waist. Over it is a series of three 
capes, each four inches apart, corded with 
white or the color of tho dress. The skirt 
and waist can bo worn without the capes 
and the capes and skirt without tho waist. 
Attached to the waist is a standing coach¬ 
man’s collar, winch can also be removed at 
will. This water-proof dress can entirely 
dispense with the large garment known as 
the water-proof. But so sensible and con¬ 
venient a wrap will never lose favor with 
most people. It is still long and ample, with 
the deep coachman's cape, now usually trim¬ 
med with oval pieces, bound and gored on 
under rows of black braid. The pockets are 
not so large as formerly*; above the collar is 
a full niching bound with black braid. Pas¬ 
sementerie buttons are preferred. With a 
little taste, even tho clumsy but UBeful water¬ 
proof may be made a very attractive gar¬ 
ment. The dress above mentioned may be 
worn over the customary walking suit if the 
occasion occurs. 
Heavv-soled walking boots, square-toed, 
low, broad heels, either buttoned or laced at 
the side, are worn. French boots, with cork 
between the leathenr are very desirable. The 
soles are very thick but quite light. Boots 
are not so high as formerly worn. 
Felt hats are the most suitable for rainy* 
weather, with a band of ribbon and a wing 
at the side. Suitably equipped, ladies need 
have no fear of the stormiest weather, either 
for health’s sake or appearance. 
0 
